Systems of Tax Evasion and
Laundering (STEAL)
RESEARCHERS
• Leonard Seabrooke, Norwegian Institute for International
Affairs (PI), Norway.
• Benjamin Skaar De Carvalho, Norwegian Institute for
International Affairs, Norway.
• Virot Ali, Thammasat University, Thailand.
• Attiya Waris, University of Nairobi, Kenya.
• Don Marshall, The University of the West Indies, Barbados.
• Ronen Palan, University of Birmingham, UK.
• J.C. Sharman, Griffith University, Australia.
• Duncan Wigan, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.
• Eleni Tsingou, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark.
• Mike Rafferty, University of Sydney, Australia
OBJECTIVES
• how international entities use tax havens
• the conditions under which tax evasion and
money laundering are most likely
• where international institutions are on the
mark or off target in addressing evasion and
laundering
Targets
• overview of the issue and target a
comprehensive taxonomy of the Global
Wealth Chains
• investigate the variety of ways that developing
countries are linked to tax havens
• the impact of anti-money laundering
regulations on developing countries
• the impact of on-going regulatory initiatives
and regulatory changes
Global Wealth Chains
Market
Investor
Price trumps setting
Modular
Investor
Relational
Captured
Hierarchy
Investor
Investor
Investor
Customized service for
large assets
hold
Trust network
established
Leads firms dominate
form
Lead firm dominates
supply and facilitation
Wealth1
Wealth1
Wealth1
Wealth1
Wealth1
Wealth2
Wealth2
Wealth2
Wealth2
Wealth2
Wealth3
Wealth3
Wealth3
Wealth3
Wealth3
Division of Work
•
•
•
•
•
Europe (Seabrooke and Wigan)
East Asia (Palan and Ali)
Western Hemisphere (Sharman and Marshall)
Africa and Asia (Waris)
Anti-Money Laundering and Tax Evasion
(Tsingou, De Carvalho, Waris respectively)
• Mapping GWCs and Offshore Financial
Innnovation (Rafferty and Wigan)
Methodology
• mixed methods approach, stress is placed on
data from semi-structured expert interviews
and document analysis with a case study
approach
• existing databases will be explored for overall
descriptive statistics from Civil Society
Organizations, International Organizations,
and, where possible, Private Associations;
Methodology
• semi-structured interviews will be conducted
with representatives from entities engaged in
Global Wealth Chains, including Hedge Funds,
Investment Banks, Law Firms, Wealth Asset
Managers, Tax Consultants, National,
Supranational and International Regulators,
Transnational Policy Communities, and National
Tax and Anti-Money Laundering Authorities;
• primary documents will be studied, such as
strategy papers, annual reports, and commercial
publications from those named above.